Joseph Bates

Joseph Bates (8 July 1792-19 March 1872) was an American revivalist minister who is one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist faith.

Biography
Joseph Bates was born in Rochester, Massachusetts on 8 July 1792, and he became a cabin boy in 1807. He was impressed into the Royal Navy in 1811 and was a prisoner of war during the War of 1812, and, after his release, he became a ship captain and converted to Christianity after reading the Bible. He was disturbed by the forced attendance of sailors to Anglican services, and he supported the separation of church and state, abolitionism, vegetarianism, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, and accepted William Miller's Adventist teachings. He became one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and he supported the development of the church during the 1850s, culminating in its establishment in 1863. He died in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1872.